Articles of clothing with retroreflective portions have been made in several forms in the past, primarily because of the need to make pedestrians and pets more visible at night to operators of motor material may be sewn onto clothing to improve the visibility of the wearer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,942 (Berg) discloses retroreflective dry transfer assemblies comprising a layer of adhesive by which the assembly is secured to a substrate, e.g., an article of clothing. Other retroreflective articles of clothing have been made with cloth to which retroreflective elements have been adhered as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,263,345 (Bingham) and Re. 30,892 (Bingham et al.). U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,192 (Bingham) discloses a fabric with a retroreflective layer adhered thereto with adhesive. U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,345 (Bingham) discloses application of a coating composition to fabrics to impart retroreflective properties thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,562 (Harper et al.) discloses retroreflective transfers which can be applied to garments and other substrates.
Many of the known techniques for imparting retroreflective properties to clothing and fabrics are relatively expensive and some impart only limited degrees of retroreflection. Another problem with many techniques for imparting retroreflective properties is that the finished article is uncomfortable to wear because it is excessively heavy, impermeable, and/or stiff. In some instances the retroreflective elements may be unduly subject to being abraded away.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,431 (Tung) discloses a light-transmissive retroreflective sheeting comprising an open web of filaments encased around their whole circumference by a layer of binder material securing a monolayer of retroreflective microspheres.